“We could do with a lot more sunshine over the coming weeks and months as the growing season looks to be 3-4 weeks behind at the moment… we don’t want to be picking in December!”
A lot has happened since my last column; Norwich City have won the Championship and been promoted to the Premier League (up The Canaries), I’ve been invited to an actual in-person trade tasting and the first Gutter & Stars wine has been launched and sold out.
I had a few pre-orders on the books and was optimistic that the Bacchus would be popular locally, but I didn’t expect ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ Bacchus 2020 to be quite so adored… all 400 bottles sold out online and via the cellar door in just a few days.
Button badges for opening day: a reminder of his music journalist past
On Monday 3rdMay the cellar was opened to the public for the first time and, despite the bitter cold and wind, we had more than 50 punters through the door for a taste and a look around. It was a full-on family affair with my wife Ellen pouring tasting samples and sharing a brief history of the winery and the windmill.
Our kids got involved too in their own way. My youngest daughter Alice was very keen to help and set herself up in the car park as a ‘customer spotter’ and she would come running into the cellar when someone arrived to let me know.
“Daddy,” she asked as we were getting things set-up, “if it’s someone I don’t know should I shout ‘stranger danger’?” After quickly explaining to her that although the people coming to buy daddy’s wine may be strangers we refer to them as ‘customers’, she performed her role with aplomb.
In total we sold nearly 100 bottles on the day to a mixture of locals and friends, with many of them finding out about the winery through our social media channels and recent interviews with the Cambridge Independent newspaper and radio station Cambridge 105. Good to know that a combination of old school and digital media works.
For the occasion my wife ‘feng shui-ed’ the winery – which was much needed – and we got some signage up and new lighting. I also got some button badges printed in a variety of colours all bearing the G&S logo, a nod to the badges which fans of indie bands would proudly pin to their lapels or skinny t-shirts back in the day.
As well as selling much of the Bacchus in Cambridge, many bottles of the limited-run were hoovered up online and dispatched to all corners of the UK, including Aberdeen, Cornwall, north Wales, Bath, Kent and Norwich (probably used to celebrate the Canaries’ promotion).
I’ve kept a handful of bottles back to start a ‘library cellar’ so I can see how the wines develop over time – I believe it will change with bottle age so it will be interesting to see.
Missing Gate Vineyard, Essex, May 19, 2021
Difficult second album syndrome
The next step of the journey is getting the second release ready. The 2020 Pinot Noir will be the next wine off the block and I’m happy with how it’s tasting at the moment; it’s juicy and fresh with a lick of cherry and raspberry fruit and an ‘aeroplane-sachet’ black pepper note that brings spiciness and bite to the finish. I expect to bottle this in July for a late August release, and again it’s limited to 400 bottles.
This week I visited Missing Gate Vineyard in Essex’s Crouch Valley, which was the source of my 2020 fruit, to have a look at the vines and make plans for the 2021 vintage with the Speakman family and viticulturist Duncan McNeill. The sun shone and it was great to see the vines finally showing signs of life after a wet, cold winter. The risk of frost seems to be over and the vines were all nicely tied down with three or more leaves on each bud unfurled and sucking up the sunshine. This vineyard is a proper heat-trap.
We could do with a lot more sunshine over the coming weeks and months as the growing season looks to be 3-4 weeks behind at the moment. Having said that a lot can change quickly in the vineyard so it’ll be good to revisit next month and see how the vines are progressing. After all, we don’t want to be picking in December!
“Spare us The Cutter” etc
Back in the winery I’m looking at purchasing a few more ex-Burgundy barrels for this year’s wines and a bigger basket press. Crucially though I need a better sound system, the tiny – and tinny – DAB radio I have needs an upgrade so a trip to the charity shop is on the cards. I can’t wait to bang out my new favourite album ‘Coral Island’ by The Coral in the cellar, or for that matter fellow Liverpudlian band Echo & The Bunnymen who I have got back into recently. After championing Manchester icons The Stone Roses with my first release perhaps a Scouse band will make it onto a Gutter&Stars label sometime soon…?
